Tuesday, October 06, 2015

How the House of Representatives Can Stop TPP

The President of the United States of America is Constitutionally charged with the duty and responsibility of negotiating international treaties on behalf of the United States of America; and

The Senate of the United States of America is Constitutionally charged with the duty and responsibility of advising on treaties; and

The Constitutional duty and responsibility of the Senate to advise on treaties must involve a complementary duty and responsibility of the President to consult with the Senate on treaties; and

The President and the Senate have in the last quarter-century on several occasions disregarded their Constitutional duties and responsibilities to consult and advise on treaties, by the un-Constitutional procedure of "fast-tracking" treaties; and

The House of Representatives is Constitutionally charged with the sole power, duty and responsibility of authorizing expenditures and debts on the part of the United States of America; and

Any expenditures made or debts incurred by the United States of America in consequence of treaties negotiated without the Constitutionally-mandated Presidential consultation and Senatorial advice on "fast-tracked" treaties are themselves equally un-Constitutional:

Be it resolved, that

1. No public monies shall be expended, or debt incurred, or properties or territories transferred even temporarily, partially or conditionally, or loans or grants made, or taxes, tariffs, imposts, fees or fines imposed, modified or waived, to negotiate, lobby for, or enforce, or to render compensation in any way under, any "fast-tracked" treaty.

2. The previous section shall not apply to Federal compensations to American workers, small businesses, and small primary-vocation residential family farmers and ranchers, injured by "fast-tracked" treaties.

3. Any attempted or actual violation of the prohibitions in this resolution by any Federal official (other than President or Senator), employee, contractor or consultant, shall be investigated and, where verified, found to be and prosecuted as an act of contempt for the Constitution and this House.

[This would never make it out of committee in the House, so it should be brought to the floor in Committee of the Whole House, with recorded votes every step of the way.]